Venturing in the lonely wilderness..

 7th Feb - Finally, the day arrived to march towards Zanskar valley. Bus came around 9 am along with supporting crew and all required equipment, food items for next 5 days. After some technical glitches related to insurance at the entry post, the bus moved ahead to halt at the Gurudwara Pathar Sahib located around 25 KMs from Leh.

After spending half an hour in the spiritual atmosphere in the Gurudwara, we resumed our journey towards the valley. On route of Leh-Kargil, we need to take a left turn towards for Chilling near Nimmoo. The road is pretty good for sometime before it turns into bad shape. The later part of the road is under construction and in coming years the valley will be connected with a tar road which could have adverse impact on the nature of the valley and trek. In next 1.5-2 hours, we were at Shingra, the spot where the trek begins.

Supporting team off loaded the equipment and  begun preparing some tea and noodles to fill our stomachs before we head towards our first camp at Shingra Koma

Once our tummies were full, it was time to get into action and the first step was to put on Gum Boots and try to walk on the ice with small footsteps or "Penguin Walk". Initially, we did not put the spikes on the boots and started moving slowly towards our camp site which is a couple of hours walk. Within a few minutes, we came across a glassy ice sheet which is a very slippery section on this trek especially if there is some ascent or descent. And before I could understand what's happening, I felt down on my back. Of course, the heavy backpack was a big support. Soon, Stanzin realized that it was of no use to just

carry on without spikes. He immediately put on spikes on my and Suraj's gum boots. Kishor and Satya carried on without it. After initial hiccups, we reached the camp site enjoying the exotic beauty of nature in the form of ice sheets, high mountain peaks of the valley and the freezing water flowing below our feet. Meanwhile, our eyes were also looking out for any sighting of wildlife which is a essential part of this region. The region is blessed with various kind Himalayan flora and fauna like Blue Sheep, Tibetan Ibex, Fox and the might snow leopard along with various birds.

Before we reached the camp site, the supporting team of Tashi, Namgyal, Dorje, Jigmit and had already passed us with their wooden snow sledges loaded with tents, food material etc. As we reached the camp site, the tents and sleeping bags were ready along with the tea and some snacks. 

In the evening, we had plenty of time. So, we thought of roaming around the camp site and climbed up a hill nearby. Camp site can be seen down below on the turn of the river.

Night was a clear sky and moon would rise pretty late due to high mountains so we could observe unimaginable number of stars. Unfortunately though we could not spot milky way. May be we need to plan it for next time 😇